articles

Our Perspective on Palestine

Our Perspective on Palestine

Part of our perspectives series on major issues, this piece addresses the ongoing genocide in Palestine, its effects on the region and the US, and what approach communists should take in organizing against US imperialism. The societal crisis wracking Israel together with an unprecedented Palestine solidarity movement suggests the potential collapse of the Zionist project in our lifetimes, even in the face of increasingly draconian crackdowns against activists.

Palestinian Liberation from Below: A review of Palestine and Marxism by Joseph Daher

Palestinian Liberation from Below: A review of Palestine and Marxism by Joseph Daher

The Swiss-Syrian academic and activist Joseph Daher has contributed an excellent Marxist perspective on the Palestinian struggle. Providing clarity on important questions that remain contentious for the movement — from the “Zionist lobby” to support for armed resistance — the book is a valuable intervention on the meaning and methods of Palestinian liberation.

Ambush in the Oval Office: Trump’s Dramatic Reversal on Ukraine

Ambush in the Oval Office: Trump’s Dramatic Reversal on Ukraine

The outrageous scene in the Oval Office as Donald Trump ambushed Ukraine’s president Zelenskyy has stirred outrage and increased sympathy for Ukraine. Vile as Trump’s behavior is, it’s important to place it in the long history of US imperialist bullying and to resist the temptation to view the US’s previous position as liberatory for Ukraine.

Democracy: How the Palestine Solidarity Movement Can Get Stronger

Democracy: How the Palestine Solidarity Movement Can Get Stronger

What will it take to liberate Palestine? It starts, of course, with the heroism and sumud (steadfastness) of Palestinians we’ve witnessed over the past 75 years. That’s why Firebrand supports Palestinian resistance in all its forms. But international action is also...

A Marxist Critique of The Black Antifascist Tradition

A Marxist Critique of The Black Antifascist Tradition

The Black Antifascist Tradition, by Jeanelle K. Hope and Bill Mullen, is an extensive overview of the politics of anti-racist struggles by Black people in the United States. Published earlier this year by Haymarket Books, it is, first of all, a very interesting and...

The Rise of Christian Nationalism in the US

The Rise of Christian Nationalism in the US

The religious right-wing, made up largely of white evangelicals, holds a great deal of political power in the United States. They form a formidable voting bloc, with presidential candidates seeking and depending on their endorsement. As a dominant force among...

Advances, Limits, and Lessons of the Student Intifada

Advances, Limits, and Lessons of the Student Intifada

The eruption of Gaza solidarity encampments on college campuses around the world has been a welcome and unexpected shot in the arm for the Palestine liberation movement. In hindsight, the pot simmered on campuses for months before boiling over. Last fall, universities...

Why Kautsky Was Wrong (and Why You Should Care)

Why Kautsky Was Wrong (and Why You Should Care)

Karl Kautsky’s grandson John told a very revealing anecdote about attitudes towards his grandfather in the 1960s. He recalled a historian named Georges Haupt, who had many discussions among students about the history of the Second International. During those talks,...

On the Ground with the Student Intifada

On the Ground with the Student Intifada

Auraria Campus, Denver Report by James Radek A protest encampment in solidarity with Palestine was established on Thursday, April 25 on Denver’s Auraria Campus, which is home to the University of Colorado Denver, Metropolitan State University, and Community College of...

Neither Dogmatism nor Eclecticism, But Marxist Dialectics

Neither Dogmatism nor Eclecticism, But Marxist Dialectics

Marxism represents a complete and vigorously materialistic world-view. A complete world-view differs from an eclectic one in that each of its aspects is connected in the closest way with all the others, and therefore one cannot with impunity eliminate one of them and...

Aaron Bushnell: Martyr for Palestine

Aaron Bushnell: Martyr for Palestine

Last Sunday, February 25, Aaron Bushnell, a 25-year-old active-duty airman in the United States Air Force, set himself on fire in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington DC, in what he called “an extreme act of protest against the genocide of the Palestinian...

What Will It Take to Liberate Palestine?

What Will It Take to Liberate Palestine?

A free Palestine from the river to the sea is the demand that has been taken up by the unprecedented global protest movement in the wake of Israel’s brutal war and genocide in Gaza. Most sincere supporters of the Palestinian cause can understand why the dismantling of...

Central Ohio Revolutionary Socialists Suspended Over Palestine

Central Ohio Revolutionary Socialists Suspended Over Palestine

Our comrades in Central Ohio Revolutionary Socialists are facing outrageous repression from Ohio State University, who suspended their campus chapter in December on grounds that their activities in support of Palestine “pose a significant risk of substantial harm.”...

The French Turn, the DSA, and Revolutionary Regroupment

The French Turn, the DSA, and Revolutionary Regroupment

In March 2020, several longtime members of the Democratic Socialists of America published an essay entitled “The Dangers of Factionalism in DSA,” warning about the dangers of entryism by organizations such as Socialist Alternative. Using the example of the “French...

Why We Support Palestinian Armed Resistance

Why We Support Palestinian Armed Resistance

In the wake of the events of October 7 and the genocidal aftermath, there is a growing divide on the left between those who unconditionally support the right of Palestinians to fight back against their oppressors, and their critics. Support on the left for resistance...

Palestine, Prisons, and Settler-Colonial Incarceration

Palestine, Prisons, and Settler-Colonial Incarceration

A political prisoner is typically defined as someone imprisoned for their political activity, or who is imprisoned on an official charge that is sometimes unrelated to their actual activity. While the exact meanings of the term are contested, conventionally it refers...